1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to display and presentation of information concerning collaborative planning and supply chain management.
2. Related Art
Supply chain management, collaborative design, electronic auctions and other trading systems frequently require a complex user interface to present information about one or more particular collaborators, trading partners or markets to a user. However, such interfaces may be unnecessarily complex or “user unfriendly”. For example, in the absence of an easily comprehensible trading platform user interface, the user may be uncertain as to the status of bids that have been made for particular items. Similarly, the user may also be uncertain as to the anticipated duration of bidding. Frequently, these problems restrict the overall efficiency of supply chain management and collaborative design. In particular, the following data may not be available or may not be easy to locate:                Tables of markets that include sufficient information such as lot size and part number        information on the status of a user's bid        when the “end time” of trading occurs or when a market closes, or when different phases of a market may start or end        personal information regarding current negotiations        personal information regarding past negotiations        calculation of total units bid for and total price committed        other individual information.        